Banks told to pay P133 M to Rallos family

Much as it tried to delay the inevitable, a court order has compelled Cebu City Hall to face the prospect of paying P133 million to the Rallos family.

Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge James Himalaloan threatened to cite in contempt two banks if it fails to release the “correct account numbers” of the Cebu City government to the court sheriff.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who was informed about the order upon his arrival in the city last Friday, will discuss legal options with the City Legal Office on the case.

The account numbers to be provided by Philippine Veterans Bank (PVC) and the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) should be released five days after they received the court order dated Feb. 27, this year, Himalaloan said.

The judge said the account numbers will be used by the Ralloses as basis to require the Cebu City Council to enact an ordinance that will compel the banks to release the P133 million as payment for a Rallos lot expropriated in 1963.

“(The) judgment has become final and executory. Otherwise the ruling will be a hollow victory if it’s not served, considering that the Ralloses are in the twilight of their lives,” Judge Himalaloan said.

Copies of the order were sent to Rama, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, the branch managers of the two banks, sheriff Eugenio Fuentes, and the Ralloses.

The Cebu City government failed to secure a favorable ruling in its a case filed by the heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos whose lot in barangay Sambag II was expropriated by the city.

City officials, through former Cebu City councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, discovered last year an old convenio or compromise agreement between feuding descendants of the Rallos family in the 1940s.

The agreement would purportedly prove that the city government need not pay for a lot that was supposed to be donated by the Ralloses to the local government unit.  But the court ignored the papers.

City lawyers mentioned about the convenio only during a hearing last year.

Himalaloan said the agreement isn’t considered a “supervening event that transpired after judgement of the case which became final and executory.”

Notices of Garnishment were also sent to the city’s depository banks like the Development Bank of the Philippines.

Notices were also sent to SM Prime Holding Inc., SM Development Corp. and SM Investments Corp. at their offices in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, Metro Manila.

Early last month, PVB, PPSB, and SM Prime Holdings refused to heed the sheriff’s requests to satisfy the city’s dues to the Ralloses.

This prompted the sheriff to auction off 9.7 hectares of the South Road Properties (SRP).

The portion of the SRP will sold in a public auction on April 10, 2012.

Rama’s legal consultant Jade Ponce said they will reserve their comments once they read the court order.

Rama questioned the court order, citing a Supreme Court ruling and a Commission on Audit (COA) policy that disallows local government units (LGUs) to release any garnishment without their permission.

“How come he was able to come to that point of threatening the banks in contempt? I don’t think the judge could have that ascendancy at this time,” Rama told Cebu Daily News. / Ador Vincent Mayol and Marian Z. Codilla